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Sectai
Intro These creatures, like most abnormal races in the world, are descended from demonic bloodlines. Sectai are a standardized and stabilized brood that now operates seemingly independently from the chaos gods' reign. They run on four legs but have been known to operate on two (as pictured). They have two stinger appendages which they often use to subdue prey. Additionally they also utilize both a unique hinged jaw and multiple sets of claws. Not a whole lot is known about their swarm structure, but they seem to operate as a hivemind. Very few people visit Murdos for extended periods and survive the encounter. Sectai don't seem to answer the chaos gods' calls anymore and also do not seem to exhibit any desire to spread from Murdos. Personal Accounts Okay, so there's a common misunderstanding I'd like to quash with Xectai; the idea that they operate on a hive mind. There is a clear distinction between when you're fighting on a field of battle and think "My god, don't be an imbecile!" and fail to tell your brother and the times you say "HOLD!" immediately on his request to advance. We, as humans, fail to understand this primacy of the spoken word. We've placed so much value in this idea of language that we've built cities and empires on it. We don't stop for a second when we see a life that isn't operating on our rules... Xectai (and I apologize for the seeming misspelling -- it's a dialect thing and I refuse to change) are able to be critically analyzed like any other living, breathing, mating creature. Except that mating is reserved to a particular genetic caste (not pictured). The differentiation between "us" and "them" is a few concepts. Firstly, "how do we deliver reason and logic". We require words. Xectai can hear the idea of "14" soldiers "crossing water" "morning" "green eyes" "smell of salt and charcoal" from 'lingering' components in the air. I'm not sure if this is from some peculiar humor emitting a very particular scent at the time of their death or if there's a separate conductance which is discharged and left in nearby Aspect. What we see and feel is a moving picture -- we live in a movie. To Xectai, life is a fully euphoric phenomenal experience, overwhelming any rational singular mind and relying more on the complex interdependence of neural ganglia embedded in the dense connective tissue between exoskeletal plates. By the way, even though it doesn't seem as tough as other areas, I wouldn't suggest eating it. Tastes awful. Stick with what you know; treat Xectai like chicken -- breasts and thighs. The second and maybe greater contributing factor to the "hivemind misconception" is the idea of "preprogramming" a systemic response to particular aggressors in environment. When we see a face expressed in grimace, it causes us to immediately feel distress. Electrical conductance in our skin rises. Perspiration increases. We feel neurological distress (differentiated from psychological distress) immediately. Our minds create the response before our brains can even rationalize the meaning. This same "response pattern" is observed in blind subjects. Imagine you had, rather than 2,000 years of conditioning to the local clergy telling you to BELIEVE some output of the rational mind, your social structure dictating that this immediate response is designed to keep you, your family, and your immediate purpose for existence safe from harm. You'd pretty much be hopping and following it at whim, regardless of how much a skeptic you are. If you need harder proof, try not to jump at a loud sudden *BANG!*. Regardless of intelligence, you probably can't -- then add a Pavlovian reward for roughly 7 times longer than what we've been able to capture as "human history". So we have this immediate neurological/biological response system in place to command primitive survival and then we have the transmitters/communicative structure which has them reliving traumatic life experiences given phenomenal experience -- my father and brother being killed by a rival brood is all I can think of when I am struck by this sensation, I also have tied it to this sensation of YOU. I am going to not only WANT to exact retribution on you, but I will NEED some kind of justice. I must take your life and return you to the Grand Father for disposition. At times, I wondered if really these were mindless savage beasts that deserved death, as we oft believe, or a more rational, sense-driven, empathetic and loving community than mankind could ever conceive. -Deos, Knight of the Verditian Empire. Murdos Survivor